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Doris Duke’s Honeymoon Creation of Shangri La
In 1935, tobacco heiress Doris Duke fell in love twice – first with her new husband, then with Islamic art. What began as a 10-month honeymoon through Egypt and India soon changed her life.
After seeing the Taj Mahal, she hired local craftsmen to make a marble bedroom suite. Her two-week Hawaii stop stretched into four months, so she built Shangri La instead of a Palm Beach home.
From 1936 to 1938, she spent $1. 4 million creating Hawaii’s most costly house, filled with rooms made by artisans from Morocco to Iran. She even beat the Met Museum for a rare 13th-century mihrab…